Second World War

51 Old Norvicensians die in hostilities.

1939 - The school summer holidays were extended whilst air raid shelters were built below the playground and in the Chapel Crypt. During February 1941 alone there were 41 alerts necessitating the pupils to take to the shelters. School End House was commandeered by the Air Precautions Unit.

1942 - The German Air Force destroys the newly refurbished Lodge which held a suite of classrooms and The Masters' Common Room, School Archive and Headmaster's Office. The sports pavilion and changing rooms were totally destroyed by bombing. Other buildings were also badly damaged with the senior members of the school acting as fire wardens, trying to extinguish heavy raids of incendiary bombs.

1944 - To partly replace the buildings destroyed by enemy action, the Dean and Chapter gave permission to use the room above The Ethelbert Gateway (Barbarolli Room) as a teaching space.

1945 - The A.T.S return to School End House for teaching.

1945 - The school was in a parlous state for accommodation and facilities owing to war damage, but numbers had increased to 345. New headmaster, Andrew Stephenson, worked with the local authority to develop a plan for survival through the Direct Grant System. The Dean and Chapter and Worshipful Company of Dyers (under the influence of Judge Daines O.N.) lent some respite to the situation by renting the school more buildings and funding new building respectively.

1945 - Norwich School Sea Scouts formed following the demise of the World War 2 cadet force and the merging with normal land scouts into a new format.

1946 - Lower School was set up in a once derelict school in Bishopgate.